Local News
Grothman Tours, Observes Operations at Correctional Facilities
Congressman Glenn Grothman is spending a lot of his time venturing around the district and talking with constituents prior to the November election. But he is also touring local correctional facilities to see how they operate.
Grothman tells us he is amazed at how smoothly things run at local prisons, because “you see these prisons and it’s hard to believe you have these little villages of 1,200 or 1,500 people that operate all the time. It’s an impressive thing to visit because they do such a good job with really such a relatively small staff. Somehow you’ve got to keep 1,200, 1,500, 1,800 people – who have usually committed some pretty dangerous crimes – you’ve got to keep them getting along, to get along with the staff, and they do a pretty good job.”
Grothman adds that many facilities offer classes, and that he was impressed when he met with an instructor from Kettle Moraine Correctional Institution. He says the instructor “finds that when – even prisoners, despite their record – when they leave the prison with a degree in welding, they are finding jobs in the $17-$20 an hour range.”
Grothman also says “there’s certainly opportunity for inmates to take classes there. Whether they take advantage of that or not is up to them. But they do a good job, and there’s nobody – once they get out of there – if they’re taking advantage of the classes available that should not be able to reintegrate into society again.”